Smart message delivery based on transaction processing status

ABSTRACT

A method for message delivery to a transaction processor is presented. The method may include receiving a message having transaction information. The method may also include determining if the received message is prohibited from delivery based on comparing the transaction information with a blacklist, wherein the blacklist is used to block messages. In response to determining that received message is prohibited from delivery, the method may then include refusing message delivery or delaying message delivery. In response to determining that the received message is not prohibited from delivery, the method may further include enqueuing the message in a request queue. The method may also include receiving a reply message with a transaction status update from the transaction processor. The method may then include updating the blacklist based on the received reply message with the transaction status update.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to the field of computing, andmore particularly to electronic message processing.

Transaction processing systems are widely used to support businessesaround the world, such as banking, airlines, insurance, securities, etc.Message oriented middleware (MOM) provides a reliable transport backbonethat enables programs to communicate with one another across a networkto transport data as messages.

SUMMARY

According to one exemplary embodiment, a method for message delivery toa transaction processor is provided. The method may include receiving amessage having transaction information. The method may also includedetermining if the received message is prohibited from delivery based oncomparing the transaction information with a blacklist, wherein theblacklist is used to block messages. In response to determining thatreceived message is prohibited from delivery, the method may theninclude refusing message delivery or delaying message delivery. Inresponse to determining that the received message is not prohibited fromdelivery, the method may further include enqueuing the message in arequest queue. The method may also include receiving a reply messagewith a transaction status update from the transaction processor. Themethod may then include updating the blacklist based on the receivedreply message with the transaction status update.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a computer system for messagedelivery to a transaction processor is provided. The computer system mayinclude one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories,one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices, and programinstructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devicesfor execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at leastone of the one or more memories, whereby the computer system is capableof performing a method. The method may include receiving a messagehaving transaction information. The method may also include determiningif the received message is prohibited from delivery based on comparingthe transaction information with a blacklist, wherein the blacklist isused to block messages. In response to determining that received messageis prohibited from delivery, the method may then include refusingmessage delivery or delaying message delivery. In response todetermining that the received message is not prohibited from delivery,the method may further include enqueuing the message in a request queue.The method may also include receiving a reply message with a transactionstatus update from the transaction processor. The method may theninclude updating the blacklist based on the received reply message withthe transaction status update.

According to yet another exemplary embodiment, a computer programproduct for message delivery to a transaction processor is provided. Thecomputer program product may include one or more computer-readablestorage devices and program instructions stored on at least one of theone or more tangible storage devices, the program instructionsexecutable by a processor. The computer program product may includeprogram instructions to receive a message having transactioninformation. The computer program product may also include programinstructions to determining if the received message is prohibited fromdelivery based on comparing the transaction information with ablacklist, wherein the blacklist is used to block messages. In responseto determining that received message is prohibited from delivery, thecomputer program product may then include program instructions to refusemessage delivery or delay message delivery. In response to determiningthat the received message is not prohibited from delivery, the computerprogram product may further include program instructions to enqueue themessage in a request queue. The computer program product may alsoinclude program instructions to receive a reply message with atransaction status update from the transaction processor. The computerprogram product may then include program instructions to update theblacklist based on the received reply message with the transactionstatus update.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent from the following detailed descriptionof illustrative embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connectionwith the accompanying drawings. The various features of the drawings arenot to scale as the illustrations are for clarity in facilitating oneskilled in the art in understanding the invention in conjunction withthe detailed description. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a networked computer environment according to atleast one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a system flow diagram of a message delivery system accordingto at least one embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an operational flowchart illustrating a process for newmessage handling according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an operational flowchart illustrating a process for existingmessage handling according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of internal and external components ofcomputers and servers depicted in FIG. 1 according to at least oneembodiment;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an illustrative cloud computing environmentincluding the computer system depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of functional layers of the illustrative cloudcomputing environment of FIG. 6, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Detailed embodiments of the claimed structures and methods are disclosedherein; however, it can be understood that the disclosed embodiments aremerely illustrative of the claimed structures and methods that may beembodied in various forms. This invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theexemplary embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these exemplaryembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough andcomplete and will fully convey the scope of this invention to thoseskilled in the art. In the description, details of well-known featuresand techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring thepresented embodiments.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The following described exemplary embodiments provide a system, methodand program product for message transaction processing. As such, thepresent embodiment has the capacity to improve the technical field ofelectronic message processing by providing message oriented middleware(MOM) with a way to utilize data from transaction processing to estimatepossible delivery failure or errors due to transaction processingfailures such that the MOM can refuse a transaction request in advance.More specifically, a smart message delivery mechanism based onprocessing knowledge may include transaction processing statusinformation embedded into an existing message structure. The MOM may beaugmented with a transaction status monitor that may process incomingmessages asynchronously from typical message processing. The transactionstatus monitor may determine that messages from certain users areblocked and refuse message delivery. Furthermore messages in queue fordelivery may be processed by the transaction status monitor to identifyand return messages with an estimated time of delivery exceeding theexpiration time associated with the message.

As described above previously, transaction processing systems are widelyused to support businesses around the world, such as banking, airlines,insurance, securities, etc. Message oriented middleware (MOM) provides areliable transport backbone that enables programs to communicate withone another across a network to transport data as messages. Transactionprocessing and MOM may be widely used in enterprise systems and capableof both online transaction processing and batch processing. In manybusiness environments, a high priority is placed on high throughput andshort response times for each transaction which may demand as muchavailable system resources as possible.

In a typical transaction, a frontend application may send a request tothe MOM. The MOM may then relay the message to the transactionprocessor. The transaction processor may get the message indicating arequest and schedule tasks for processing the request (e.g., may updatea database or file) and send a reply message to the MOM. Finally, thefrontend application may then receive a reply message as a result of theprocessed request from the MOM. Messages are asynchronous by nature andoften may be used in a pseudo-synchronous fashion for request and replyscenarios.

The MOM may attempt to deliver messages as soon as the MOM can subjectto basic delivery considerations. Delivery considerations within atypical MOM include a first in first out (FIFO) delivery model withpriority ordering (e.g., messages with high priority are deliveredfirst). Furthermore, in some situations, a message may not be deliveredin time due to availability (e.g., service outage, destination error,target full, network error, etc.) and capacity (e.g., reached maximumprocessing capacity) issues. The typical MOM model may allow messages toaccumulate in the queue wasting storage space and increasing deliverytimes. Additionally, request messages may expire, thus wasting systemresources used to resend the request message. The transaction processormay be prevented from processing a transaction when a transaction isblocked after reaching the transaction processor due to lack ofavailable resources or when a transaction user is revoked (i.e.,blocked) in the transaction processor. In both scenarios, the requestmessage has used system resources in the course of being delivered fromthe frontend application to the transaction processor and for thetransaction processor to determine that the request message may not beprocessed.

Therefore, it may be advantageous to, among other things, provide amessage delivery system that asynchronously determines possibletransaction processor issues that would interfere with deliver beforedelivering a request message to the transaction processor.

According to at least one embodiment, upon receiving a new message, theMOM may determine if the transaction or user associated with thereceived message is prohibited from using the transaction processor. Theuser or transaction may be determined as prohibited based on searching ablacklist of users/transactions. Whereupon it is determined that thetransaction or user associated with the message is prohibited, an errormay be generated and the message may be blocked and delivery to thetransaction processor refused.

According to at least one embodiment, existing messages in the messagequeue may also be analyzed before delivery to the transaction processor.An estimated time to deliver the message to the transaction processormay be determined and the estimated time to deliver may be compared witha message expiration time. If the message will expire before theestimated time to deliver, the message may be discarded. However, if theestimated time to delivery may happen before the message will expire,the message may wait in the message queue for the transaction processorto take delivery.

Therefore, the above request messages may not waste resources by beingin a queue and delivered to the transaction processor when theuser/transaction are prohibited or when the estimated time to deliveryexceeds the message expiration time.

Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary networked computer environment 100 inaccordance with one embodiment is depicted. The networked computerenvironment 100 may include a computer 102 with a processor 104 and adata storage device 106 that is enabled to run a software program 108and a transaction monitor program 110 a. The networked computerenvironment 100 may also include a server 112 that is enabled to run atransaction monitor program 110 b that may interact with a database 114and a communication network 116. The networked computer environment 100may include a plurality of computers 102 and servers 112, only one ofwhich is shown. The communication network 116 may include various typesof communication networks, such as a wide area network (WAN), local areanetwork (LAN), a telecommunication network, a wireless network, a publicswitched network and/or a satellite network. It should be appreciatedthat FIG. 1 provides only an illustration of one implementation and doesnot imply any limitations with regard to the environments in whichdifferent embodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to thedepicted environments may be made based on design and implementationrequirements.

The client computer 102 may communicate with the server computer 112 viathe communications network 116. The communications network 116 mayinclude connections, such as wire, wireless communication links, orfiber optic cables. As will be discussed with reference to FIG. 5,server computer 112 may include internal components 902 a and externalcomponents 904 a, respectively, and client computer 102 may includeinternal components 902 b and external components 904 b, respectively.Server computer 112 may also operate in a cloud computing service model,such as Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), orInfrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Server 112 may also be located in acloud computing deployment model, such as a private cloud, communitycloud, public cloud, or hybrid cloud. Client computer 102 may be, forexample, a mobile device, a telephone, a personal digital assistant, anetbook, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, orany type of computing devices capable of running a program, accessing anetwork, and accessing a database 114. According to variousimplementations of the present embodiment, the transaction monitorprogram 110 a, 110 b may interact with a database 114 that may beembedded in various storage devices, such as, but not limited to acomputer/mobile device 102, a networked server 112, or a cloud storageservice.

According to the present embodiment, a user using a client computer 102or a server computer 112 may use the transaction monitor program 110 a,110 b (respectively) to prevent messages from being delivered to atransaction processor based on a blocked user/transaction or due to lackof transaction processor resources. The transaction monitor program 110a and 110 b is explained in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 2,3, and 4.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a system flow diagram of a message deliverysystem 200 according to at least one embodiment is depicted. The messagedelivery system 200 includes a frontend application 202, a queue manager204, and a transaction processing (TP) server 206.

According to at least one embodiment, the frontend application 202(e.g., an order processing application) may generate a request messageand send the generated request message to message oriented middleware(MOM) associated with the queue manager 204. Thereafter, the queuemanager 204 may place the received request message into a request queue208 a-c based on the type of request (e.g., query, deposit, transfer,etc.). As new messages are received by the queue manager 204, atransaction status monitor 210 may analyze the received message forblocked users or transactions, whereupon determining that the receivedmessage is associated with a blocked user or transaction, thetransaction status monitor 210 may refuse or delay delivery of themessage as will be described below in further detail with regard to FIG.3. Messages placed in request queues 208 a-c may also be analyzed todetermine if the message will be processed before the message is set toexpire, and the transaction status monitor 210 may discard the messageif the message may expire before the TP server 206 may process themessage, as will be described in further detail below with respect toFIG. 4. As such, analysis by the transaction status monitor 210 may beperformed separately from standard message management done by the queuemanager 204, thus queue manager 204 response times may not be increased.The queue 208 a-c that the queue manager 204 placed the message into,may contain the message until the TP server 206 is available to processthe request message.

Once the TP server 206 is ready to receive the request message, thequeue manager 204 may forward the request to the TP server 206 and theTP server 206 may perform the task 212 a-c based on the type of request.After processing the task 212 a-c, the TP server 206 may send a replymessage back to the queue manager 204. The queue manager 204 may thenplace the reply message into a reply queue 214. Finally, the queuemanager 204 may forward the reply message back to the frontendapplication 202.

For example, an order processing application (i.e., frontend application202) may generate a query request message in response to user input. Thegenerated query message may be transmitted from the frontend application202 to a queue manager 204 via a network connection (e.g., communicationnetwork 116 (FIG. 1)). Thereafter, the transaction status monitor 210may analyze the received query request message to determine if the useror transaction is blocked, as will be described in further detail belowwith respect to FIG. 3. If the transaction status monitor 210 determinedthat the message is associated with a blocked user or transaction, anerror may be generated and the message may not be placed on a requestqueue 208 a-c. However, if the received query request message is notassociated with a blocked user or transaction, the received queryrequest message will be placed on the query request queue 208 a by thequeue manager 204 since the message is for a query request. Then, thetransaction status monitor 210 may analyze the received query requestmessage in the query request queue 208 a to determine if the TP server206 will be able to perform a query task 212 a before the received queryrequest message is set to expire, as will be described in further detailbelow with respect to FIG. 4. If the transaction status monitor 210determines that the query request may not be performed before the TPserver 206 can process the query task 212 a, the transaction statusmonitor 210 may discard the message (i.e., remove the message from thequery request queue 208 a) and notify the frontend application 202.However, if the transaction status monitor 210 determines that themessage may be processed before expiring, the message may remain in thequery request queue 208 a until the TP server 206 is ready to processthe query request message.

Once any previous query request messages in the query request queue 208a have been removed from the query request queue 208 a (i.e., sent tothe TP server 206 for processing), the received query request messagemay be sent from the query request queue 208 a by the queue manager 204to the TP server 206 for processing as a query task 212 a. Thereafter,the TP server 206 may generate a reply message in response to performingthe query task 212 a and the generated reply message may be transferredfrom the TP server 206 to the queue manager 204 where the reply messagemay be placed into a reply queue 214. Within the generated replymessage, the TP server 206 may include transaction status informationthat the transaction status monitor 210 may use when analyzing enqueuedmessages as will be described in further detail below with respect toFIGS. 3 and 4. The queue manager 204 may then transfer the reply messageto the frontend application 202 once the reply message reaches the headof the reply queue 214.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an operational flowchart illustrating anexemplary new message handling process 300 used by the transactionmonitor program 110 a and 110 b (FIG. 1) according to at least oneembodiment is depicted.

At 302 a request message is received. According to at least oneembodiment, the frontend application 202 (FIG. 2) may send out a requestmessage requesting a transaction, such as a query, to the queue manager204 (FIG. 2). Once the new message is received by the queue manager 204(FIG. 2), the transaction status monitor 210 (FIG. 2) may analyze thereceived message.

Next, at 304, the message destination is determined. According to atleast one embodiment, the message may include a header (i.e., messagedescriptor) which includes a destination (e.g., TP server 206 (FIG. 2))or information sufficient to derive the destination.

Then, at 306, it is determined if existing flow control will allowmessage delivery. According to at least one embodiment, known flowcontrol schemes may be used to determine, for example, the memory limit(or file store limits) for the destination that was determinedpreviously at 304.

If it is determined that existing flow control will allow delivery at306, then it is determined if the transaction or user associated withthe message is prohibited at 308. According to at least one embodiment,the queue manager 204 (FIG. 2) may maintain a data structure, such as adatabase 114 (FIG. 1), containing a list of transactions that areallowed (i.e., transaction whitelist) and/or a list of transactions thatare not allowed (i.e., transaction blacklist) access to transactionprocessing. Similarly, the queue manager 204 (FIG. 2) may maintain adata structure, such as a database 114 (FIG. 1), containing a list ofusers that are allowed (i.e., user whitelist) and/or a list of usersthat are not allowed (i.e., user blacklist) access to transactionprocessing. The user and/or transaction type (i.e., transactioninformation) associated with the received message may then be comparedwith the lists of allowed or prohibited users/transactions.

Additionally, when reply messages are sent after messages are processedby the TP server 206 (FIG. 2), the reply messages may containtransaction status update data that identifies users and transactiontypes with a flag (e.g., type(bit), value [0-block, 1-allow]) or otherindicator identifying if the user and/or transaction is allowed or notallowed. The transaction status monitor 210 (FIG. 2) may then parse thereply message for the transaction status update data and update thewhitelists and blacklists accordingly. For example, a reply message sentafter a query request may be amended to include transaction statusupdate data in addition to the query request result. As such, themessage may contain information indicating that deposit transactions arenow allowed. Thereafter, the transaction status monitor 210 (FIG. 2) maydetect the transaction status update data in the reply message andupdate the transaction blacklist to remove deposit transactions, and mayalso update the transaction whitelist to include deposit transactions.

However, if it is determined that existing flow control will not allowdelivery at 306 or if it is determined that the transaction or user isprohibited at 308, then the message is refused or message delivery isdelayed at 310. According to at least one embodiment, if the user ortransaction was found on the list of prohibited users or transactions,the received message may be refused or delayed. For example, if arequest message is received for a deposit transaction and thetransaction blacklist includes deposit transactions, the receivedmessage may be refused.

If it is determined that the transaction and user is not prohibited at308, then the message may be delivered to a message queue at 312.According to at least one embodiment, if the user and transaction arenot found on the user or transaction blacklist and/or if the user ortransaction are found on the user or transaction whitelist at 308, thenthe message may be allowed to proceed to an appropriate request queue208 a-c (FIG. 2). The queue manager 204 (FIG. 2) may determine whichrequest queue 208 a-c (FIG. 2) to place the message. For example, if aquery request message is received that is associated with User1, it maybe determined that User1 is in the user whitelist and thus the queuemanager 204 (FIG. 2) may place the query request message into the queryrequest queue 208 a (FIG. 2).

Next, at 314, the message will be delivered to the transaction processor(i.e., TP server 206 (FIG. 2)). According to at least one embodiment,default queue manager 204 (FIG. 2) behavior may be used to manage therequest queue 208 a-c (FIG. 2) that the message was placed in andeventually transmit the request to the TP server 206 (FIG. 2). While themessage is in a request queue 208 a-c (FIG. 2), the message may also befurther analyzed as will be described below with respect to FIG. 4.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an operational flowchart illustrating anexemplary existing message handling process 400 used by the transactionmonitor program 110 a and 110 b (FIG. 1) according to at least oneembodiment is depicted.

At 402, it is determined if transactions should be blocked. According toat least one embodiment, the TP server 206 (FIG. 2) may notify the queuemanager 204 (FIG. 2) that transactions should be blocked. For example,the TP server 206 (FIG. 2) may be fully saturated and notify the queuemanager 204 (FIG. 2) that transactions should be blocked.

At 404, the message queues are scanned. According to at least oneembodiment, the request queues 208 a-c (FIG. 2) may be scanned orqueried to determine if there are any messages present in the requestqueue(s) 208 a-c (FIG. 2).

Next, at 406, it is determined if there are any messages present in thequeues. According to at least one embodiment, the result of the messagequeue scan at 404 may be used to determine if any messages are presentin the queue(s). For example, if request queues 208 a-c (FIG. 2) arequeried (as explained previously at 404), and the returned resultindicates that request queue 208 c (FIG. 2) has three messages, then itwill be determined that messages are present. However, if it isdetermined at 406 that there are no messages present in the queue(s),then the method may return to step 402 to continue to determine iftransactions should be blocked.

If it is determined at 406 that there are messages present in thequeue(s), then it is determined if the message's message expire time isgreater than a constant α at 408. According to at least one embodiment,the constant α may be set to represent the estimated time that mayelapse before a message may be delivered to the TP server 206 (FIG. 2)for transaction processing. The constant α may be determined based onknown estimation methods, such as measuring the time other messages areenqueued compared to when the other messages are dequeued, comparing theincoming message load with the TP server's 206 (FIG. 2) throughputcapability, etc. A message expire time value associated with the messagemay indicate how much time may elapse before the message may beprocessed. The message expire time value may be set to ensure a certainquality of service level or be based on other considerations. Themessage expire time value may be compared with the constant α todetermine if the message will be sent to the TP server 206 (FIG. 2)before the message is set to expire.

If it is determined at 408 that the message expire time value exceedsthe constant α, then the message may remain in a request queue 208 a-c(FIG. 2) until a transaction allowed event indicates that the messagemay be sent to the TP server 206 (FIG. 2) at 410. According to at leastone embodiment, the transaction allowed event may be generated by the TPserver 206 (FIG. 2) and sent to the queue manager 204 (FIG. 2) when theTP server 206 (FIG. 2) has resources for processing messages. Forexample, if the message expire time associated with a message in queryrequest queue 208 a (FIG. 2) is 15 seconds and the constant α is set to10 seconds, the message will remain and wait in query request queue 208a (FIG. 2) for a transaction allowed event to occur.

At 412, if transactions are being allowed by the TP server 206 (FIG. 2),messages will follow default queue manager 204 (FIG. 2) behavior. Forexample, if the TP server 206 (FIG. 2) is not operating at fullcapacity, request messages (i.e., transactions) may be allowed to bedelivered to the TP server 206 (FIG. 2) immediately if the message hasnot expired.

If a transaction allowed event occurs at 410, or if the transaction isallowed at 412, then it is determined if the message has expired at 414.According to at least one embodiment, a message may expire if the timeelapsed since the message was received exceeds the message expire timevalue associated with the message.

If it is determined at 414 that the message has expired, or if it wasdetermined at 408 that the message expire time is less than the constantα, then the message is discarded and returned to the frontendapplication 202 (FIG. 2) at 416. According to at least one embodiment,the message may be removed from the request queue 208 a-c (FIG. 2) andreturned to the frontend application 202 (FIG. 2), or some othernotification may generated and sent to the frontend application 202(FIG. 2) indicating that the message will not be delivered.

However, if it is determined that the message has not expired at 414,then the message is delivered to the transaction processor (e.g., TPserver 206 (FIG. 2)) for processing at 418. According to at least oneembodiment, the TP server 206 (FIG. 2) may process the task requested inthe message and send a reply message containing the results of the taskembedded with transaction status information (e.g., blocked or allowedtransactions/users, etc.), as described previously. The TP server 206(FIG. 2) may determine that certain transactions or users should beblocked from using the TP server 206 (FIG. 2) based on resourceallocation, user/administrator settings, etc.

It may be appreciated that FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 provide only anillustration of one embodiment and do not imply any limitations withregard to how different embodiments may be implemented. Manymodifications to the depicted embodiment(s) may be made based on designand implementation requirements.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram 900 of internal and external components ofcomputers depicted in FIG. 1 in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment of the present invention. It should be appreciated that FIG.5 provides only an illustration of one implementation and does not implyany limitations with regard to the environments in which differentembodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to the depictedenvironments may be made based on design and implementationrequirements.

Data processing system 902, 904 is representative of any electronicdevice capable of executing machine-readable program instructions. Dataprocessing system 902, 904 may be representative of a smart phone, acomputer system, PDA, or other electronic devices. Examples of computingsystems, environments, and/or configurations that may represented bydata processing system 902, 904 include, but are not limited to,personal computer systems, server computer systems, thin clients, thickclients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based systems, network PCs, minicomputer systems, anddistributed cloud computing environments that include any of the abovesystems or devices.

User client computer 102 (FIG. 1), and network server 112 (FIG. 1) mayinclude respective sets of internal components 902 a, b and externalcomponents 904 a, b illustrated in FIG. 5. Each of the sets of internalcomponents 902 a, b includes one or more processors 906, one or morecomputer-readable RAMs 908 and one or more computer-readable ROMs 910 onone or more buses 912, and one or more operating systems 914 and one ormore computer-readable tangible storage devices 916. The one or moreoperating systems 914 and the software program 108 (FIG. 1) and thetransaction monitor program 110 a (FIG. 1) in client computer 102(FIG. 1) and the transaction monitor program 110 b (FIG. 1) in networkserver 112 (FIG. 1), may be stored on one or more computer-readabletangible storage devices 916 for execution by one or more processors 906via one or more RAMs 908 (which typically include cache memory). In theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, each of the computer-readable tangiblestorage devices 916 is a magnetic disk storage device of an internalhard drive. Alternatively, each of the computer-readable tangiblestorage devices 916 is a semiconductor storage device such as ROM 910,EPROM, flash memory or any other computer-readable tangible storagedevice that can store a computer program and digital information.

Each set of internal components 902 a, b also includes a R/W drive orinterface 918 to read from and write to one or more portablecomputer-readable tangible storage devices 920 such as a CD-ROM, DVD,memory stick, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, optical disk orsemiconductor storage device. A software program, such as the softwareprogram 108 (FIG. 1) and the transaction monitor program 110 a and 110 b(FIG. 1) can be stored on one or more of the respective portablecomputer-readable tangible storage devices 920, read via the respectiveR/W drive or interface 918 and loaded into the respective hard drive916.

Each set of internal components 902 a, b may also include networkadapters (or switch port cards) or interfaces 922 such as a TCP/IPadapter cards, wireless wi-fi interface cards, or 3G or 4G wirelessinterface cards or other wired or wireless communication links. Thesoftware program 108 (FIG. 1) and the transaction monitor program 110 a(FIG. 1) in client computer 102 (FIG. 1) and the transaction monitorprogram 110 b (FIG. 1) in network server computer 112 (FIG. 1) can bedownloaded from an external computer (e.g., server) via a network (forexample, the Internet, a local area network or other, wide area network)and respective network adapters or interfaces 922. From the networkadapters (or switch port adaptors) or interfaces 922, the softwareprogram 108 (FIG. 1) and the transaction monitor program 110 a (FIG. 1)in client computer 102 (FIG. 1) and the transaction monitor program 110b (FIG. 1) in network server computer 112 (FIG. 1) are loaded into therespective hard drive 916. The network may comprise copper wires,optical fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches,gateway computers and/or edge servers.

Each of the sets of external components 904 a, b can include a computerdisplay monitor 924, a keyboard 926, and a computer mouse 928. Externalcomponents 904 a, b can also include touch screens, virtual keyboards,touch pads, pointing devices, and other human interface devices. Each ofthe sets of internal components 902 a, b also includes device drivers930 to interface to computer display monitor 924, keyboard 926 andcomputer mouse 928. The device drivers 930, R/W drive or interface 918and network adapter or interface 922 comprise hardware and software(stored in storage device 916 and/or ROM 910).

It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes adetailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachingsrecited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented inconjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail).The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloudinfrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage,or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exceptionof limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forload-balancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure comprising anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 6, illustrative cloud computing environment 1000is depicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 1000 comprises one ormore cloud computing nodes 100 with which local computing devices usedby cloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant(PDA) or cellular telephone 1000A, desktop computer 1000B, laptopcomputer 1000C, and/or automobile computer system 1000N may communicate.Nodes 100 may communicate with one another. They may be grouped (notshown) physically or virtually, in one or more networks, such asPrivate, Community, Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove,or a combination thereof. This allows cloud computing environment 1000to offer infrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for whicha cloud consumer does not need to maintain resources on a localcomputing device. It is understood that the types of computing devices1000A-N shown in FIG. 6 are intended to be illustrative only and thatcomputing nodes 100 and cloud computing environment 1000 can communicatewith any type of computerized device over any type of network and/ornetwork addressable connection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 7, a set of functional abstraction layers 1100provided by cloud computing environment 1000 (FIG. 6) is shown. Itshould be understood in advance that the components, layers, andfunctions shown in FIG. 7 are intended to be illustrative only andembodiments of the invention are not limited thereto. As depicted, thefollowing layers and corresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include: mainframes 61; RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers 62;servers 63; blade servers 64; storage devices 65; and networks andnetworking components 66. In some embodiments, software componentsinclude network application server software 67 and database software 68.

Virtualization layer 70 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers71; virtual storage 72; virtual networks 73, including virtual privatenetworks; virtual applications and operating systems 74; and virtualclients 75.

In one example, management layer 80 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning 81 provides dynamic procurement ofcomputing resources and other resources that are utilized to performtasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing 82provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloudcomputing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may comprise applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal 83 provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management 84provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such thatrequired service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planningand fulfillment 85 provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of,cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipatedin accordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 90 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation 91; software development and lifecycle management 92; virtualclassroom education delivery 93; data analytics processing 94;transaction processing 95; and queue manager 96. A transaction monitorprogram 110 a, 110 b (FIG. 1) provides a way to prevent messages frombeing delivered to a transaction processor based on a blockeduser/transaction or due to lack of transaction processor resources tohandle the message before the message expires.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for message delivery to a transactionprocessor, the method comprising: receiving a message having transactioninformation; determining if the received message is prohibited fromdelivery based on comparing the transaction information with ablacklist, wherein the blacklist is used to block messages; in responseto determining that the received message is not prohibited fromdelivery, enqueueing the message in a request queue; detecting anenqueued message in the request queue; in response to detecting theenqueued message in the request queue, determining if an expire timeassociated with the detected message exceeds an estimated delivery time;in response to determining that the expire time associated with thedetected message does not exceed the estimated delivery time, discardingthe detected message from the request queue; in response to determiningthat the expire time associated with the detected message exceeds theestimated delivery time, waiting until a transaction allowed eventoccurs; in response to the transaction allowed event occurring,determining if the detected message has not expired; and in response todetermining that the detected message has not expired, sending thedetected message to the transaction processor.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the transaction information includes at least one of atransaction type, and a user.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein theblacklist comprises at least one of a list of prohibited transactiontypes, and a list of prohibited users.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereindetermining that the received message is not prohibited from deliverycomprises comparing the transaction information with a whitelist, andwherein the whitelist is used to indicate the transaction processor canhandle the message.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the whitelistcomprises at least one of a list of allowed transaction types, and alist of allowed users.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:updating the whitelist based on the received reply message with thetransaction status update.
 7. A computer system for message delivery toa transaction processor, comprising: one or more processors, one or morecomputer-readable memories, one or more computer-readable tangiblestorage medium, and program instructions stored on at least one of theone or more tangible storage medium for execution by at least one of theone or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories,wherein the computer system is capable of performing a methodcomprising: receiving a message having transaction information;determining if the received message is prohibited from delivery based oncomparing the transaction information with a blacklist, wherein theblacklist is used to block messages; in response to determining that thereceived message is not prohibited from delivery, enqueueing the messagein a request queue; detecting an enqueued message in the request queue;in response to detecting the enqueued message in the request queue,determining if an expire time associated with the detected messageexceeds an estimated delivery time; in response to determining that theexpire time associated with the detected message does not exceed theestimated delivery time, discarding the detected message from therequest queue; in response to determining that the expire timeassociated with the detected message exceeds the estimated deliverytime, waiting until a transaction allowed event occurs; in response tothe transaction allowed event occurring, determining if the detectedmessage has not expired; and in response to determining that thedetected message has not expired, sending the detected message to thetransaction processor.
 8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein thetransaction information includes at least one of a transaction type, anda user.
 9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the blacklistcomprises at least one of a list of prohibited transaction types, and alist of prohibited users.
 10. The computer system of claim 7, whereindetermining that the received message is not prohibited from deliverycomprises comparing the transaction information with a whitelist, andwherein the whitelist is used to indicate the transaction processor canhandle the message.
 11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein thewhitelist comprises at least one of a list of allowed transaction types,and a list of allowed users.
 12. The computer system of claim 11,further comprising: updating the whitelist based on the received replymessage with the transaction status update.
 13. A computer programproduct for message delivery to a transaction processor, comprising: oneor more computer-readable storage medium and program instructions storedon at least one of the one or more tangible storage medium, the programinstructions executable by a processor, the program instructionscomprising: program instructions to receive a message having transactioninformation; program instructions to determine if the received messageis prohibited from delivery based on comparing the transactioninformation with a blacklist, wherein the blacklist is used to blockmessages; in response to determining that the received message is notprohibited from delivery, program instructions to enqueue the message ina request queue; program instructions to detect an enqueued message inthe request queue; in response to detecting the enqueued message in therequest queue, program instructions to determine if an expire timeassociated with the detected message exceeds an estimated delivery time;in response to determining that the expire time associated with thedetected message does not exceed the estimated delivery time, programinstructions to discard the detected message from the request queue; inresponse to determining that the expire time associated with thedetected message exceeds the estimated delivery time, programinstructions to wait until a transaction allowed event occurs; inresponse to the transaction allowed event occurring, programinstructions to determine if the detected message has not expired; andin response to determining that the detected message has not expired,program instructions to send the detected message to the transactionprocessor.
 14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein thetransaction information includes at least one of a transaction type, anda user.
 15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein theblacklist comprises at least one of a list of prohibited transactiontypes, and a list of prohibited users.
 16. The computer program productof claim 13, wherein determining that the received message is notprohibited from delivery comprises comparing the transaction informationwith a whitelist, and wherein the whitelist is used to indicate thetransaction processor can handle the message.
 17. The computer programproduct of claim 16, wherein the whitelist comprises at least one of alist of allowed transaction types, and a list of allowed users.
 18. Thecomputer program product of claim 17, further comprising: programinstructions to update the whitelist based on the received reply messagewith the transaction status update.